Chesterton’s bicycle. || It’s a chair, it’s an earthquake helmet. || A shovel is used. || Tiling issues. || Three sizes, five colours. || Incoming. || I’m not entirely clear on the rules. || Another fun way to pass the time. || It’s an alternative approach. || Giving it to the man. || Big mirror. || “Best new artist.” || I want all of the loveliness in one big injection. || More joys of public transport. || Pulse detected. || Provider and role model. || Critter of the sea. || Car relocation. || Close enough for showbiz work. || Conservatism in an idealised nutshell. || Noise reduction. (h/t, pst314) || Street scenes, godly edition. || Attention, all heterosexual menfolk. If you think she’s hot, you’re gay, apparently. || It’s her way of life. || And finally, because you look like you need this, a “freeing and detoxifying” project for the weekend.

Oh, and while I have your attention, today is this blog’s seventeenth birthday. Yes, seventeen chuffing years. Which is a pretty good excuse to remind patrons that this rickety barge is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant a while longer, and remain ad-free, there are three buttons below the fold with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted.

If one-click haste is called for, there’s a QR code in the sidebar, at which you point your phone, and my PayPal.Me page can be found here. As requested, I’ve added SubscribeStar and Ko-Fi accounts, via which love may also be monetised, whether as one-off donations or monthly subscriptions.

Additionally, any Amazon UK shopping done via this link, or for Amazon US via this link, or via the buttons in the sidebar, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you. Feel free to buy things wildly and in bulk.

For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last seventeen years, in over 3,000 posts and 200,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start – in particular, the end-of-year summaries, which convey the fullest flavour of what it is we do. A sort of blog concentrate. If you like what you find there… well, there’s lots more of that.

Do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.

As always, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company.

Oh yes. The buttons:

The robot did my lash extensions. || Transgender head-tilt, level nine. || When your local stores start closing because of looting, excusing the looters is the progressive thing to do. || Today’s word is mentor. || Modernity is a helluva thing. || Nostalgic coffee table of note. || Bach’s Coffee Cantata, 1735. || Identify birds and mammals with smart binoculars. || Be careful who you let in. || Canine dispute. || For the disabled, a tongue-operated trackpad. || Sheep relocation. || He is, I’m told, an associate professor of psychiatry. || The perils of dining on squid. || Own a piece of history, they said. || Whatever happened to the Hitlers? || Timing is important. || Probably best not to, I think. || Not unfair. || Fool me once. || And finally, in sports news, she’s the women’s world champion, you know.

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Incoming. || Incoming 2. || Incoming 3. || Early Chinese typewriter – with over 5,000 characters, not an easy thing to master. (h/t, Things) || Volcano tourism. || Dress in layers, they say. || Just in case you should need them, Controlled Demolition, Inc. (h/t, Things) || Daylight robbery. || Meanwhile, at Davos. || On being “educated,” a thread. || Or you could just press ‘defrost‘ on the app. || Pretentious guilt, level ten. || Our betters, perturbed. || Upside detected. || Today’s words are learning environment. || All-terrain wheelchair, built from scraps. || King of the jungle. || “Live who you are,” or rather, aren’t. || The thrill of duty-free. || It’s a family rave, for parents who can’t let go. || For fans of feet. || And finally, being a robot, she does not experience human emotions.

If inclined, you can follow me on X / Twitter.

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I always start my day this way. || I laughed and I’m not sorry. || The legend of Bum Farto. || “These holes are inhabited.” || He wants to teach you a lesson, repeatedly, with an airhorn. || 1940s IT. || Taking sides. || “Too much cheese” finally achieved. || Tourist attraction of note. || The Women of the Pussy Cat Club, 1970. || Liveliness in Wakefield. || Warfare, 1963. || Neighbours and renovations, 1981. || She paid for an affirming penis and is not entirely satisfied. (NSFW) || The progressive retail experience, parts 528, 529, 530, 531 and 532. || Pouring. || The thrill of salad. || He’s doing it for the little kiddies, you understand. || Mail theft. || The thrill of fluff. || Somewhat fluff-related. || Further to this from last week, question asked. || Feel your age. || And finally, it fits in his hand.

Update, via the comments:

Uncomplicated motives.

If inclined, you can follow me on X / Twitter.

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Judgement promptly validated. || Ice-cream scoop insertions and other medical emergencies. || Somewhat related: Things done to penises in 2023. || Recovered Kodachromes of New York in the Fifties and Sixties. (h/t, Lancastrian Oik) || Like conkers, I guess. || On crime and incarceration. || Question asked, answered. || Being so clever, he doesn’t believe in sky daddy. || Lion relocation. || If you got rid of the toaster, you’d have space for one of these. || Suboptimal road surface. || Set-up and payoff. || The progressive retail experience, parts 526 and 527. || Pressing oil. || For enthusiasts of diecast model cars, The Little Wheels Museum. (h/t, Things) || I laughed and I’m not sorry. || A little artistic licence. || At last, a shower-toilet combo. || And finally, a hawk encounters a kitten with a force field.

If inclined, you can follow me on X / Twitter.

To register with the blog and thereby enable extra commenting options – including @username mentions and live notifications – scroll down to the black ‘Meta’ box at the very bottom of the page. It’s free and quite painless.